William Harwood – Page 7 – Spaceflight Now

Ending an era, Europe launches its final Ariane 5 rocket

July 6, 2023 William Harwood

Europe’s venerable Ariane 5 rocket blasted off on its 117th and final flight Wednesday, successfully boosting two communications satellites into orbit but leaving the European space program without a large satellite launcher of its own until a delayed successor comes on line.

SpaceX launches European ‘dark energy telescope’ to help unravel cosmology’s biggest mysteries

July 1, 2023 William Harwood

The European Space Agency launched its $1.5 billion Euclid space telescope Saturday, an ambitious, first-of-a-kind attempt to pin down the nature of dark matter, an unknown material pervading the cosmos, and dark energy, the mysterious repulsive force that is speeding up the expansion of the universe.

Virgin Galactic launches its first commercial flight to space

June 29, 2023 William Harwood

Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic launched its first commercial space flight Thursday, sending three Italian researchers, two company pilots and an astronaut trainer on a high-speed thrill ride to the edge of space aboard a winged rocketplane. The crew experienced about three minutes of weightlessness. Total time between air launch and landing: just under 14 minutes.

Virgin Galactic readies spaceplane for first commercial flight on Thursday

June 29, 2023 William Harwood

Four-and-a-half years after an initial sub-orbital test flight, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is finally ready to begin commercial operations with the launch Thursday of a six-man crew, including three Italian researchers, on an up-and-down flight to the edge of space aboard the company’s winged spaceplane.

Musk outlines major upgrades for Starship rocket

June 25, 2023 William Harwood

SpaceX will need another six weeks or so to finish implementing hundreds of changes to its Super Heavy-Starship rocket and the gargantuan booster’s Texas launch pad before it will be ready for a second attempt to reach orbit, company founder Elon Musk said Saturday.

Cargo Dragon docks at space station

June 6, 2023 William Harwood

Closing out an automated 18-hour rendezvous, a SpaceX Dragon cargo ship loaded with 7,000 pounds of supplies and equipment, including two add-on roll-out solar blankets, caught up with the International Space Station early Tuesday and moved in for a problem-free docking.

Private astronauts splash down to close out 9-day commercial research mission

May 31, 2023 William Harwood

America’s most experienced space flier and her three private astronaut crewmates undocked from the International Space Station and plunged back to Earth late Tuesday, blazing through the night sky like a fiery shooting star before splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico.

Virgin Galactic resumes suborbital spaceflights

May 25, 2023 William Harwood

Virgin Galactic launched its suborbital spaceplane “Unity” on its first crewed flight in two years Thursday, carrying two pilots and four company astronauts to the edge of space in a final test flight before paying customers begin suborbital jaunts in June.

Whitson says commercial station visit critical to private-sector space ops

May 25, 2023 William Harwood

America’s most experienced astronaut says her fully commercial visit to the International Space Station this week is a critical stepping stone on the road to space tourism, private-sector orbital research and development of commercially operated space stations.

NASA awards Blue Origin $3.4 billion Artemis moon lander contract

May 19, 2023 William Harwood

Blue Origin, the rocket company owned by Amazon-founder Jeff Bezos, has won a $3.4 billion NASA contract to build an Artemis lunar lander that will provide a downstream alternative to the Starship variant already being developed by SpaceX, the agency announced Friday.